I Will Follow You Into The Dark
by LalaLettie
Summary: Itachi and Sakura ran into each other by a twist of fate. Now they've been transported to a new place, a place called Hogwarts. They'll have to trust each other now to find their way back... or die trying. ItaSaku: HP/Naruto
1. Chapter 1

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I Will Follow You Into the Dark_

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**I**

Blood red orbs stared at her.

They blinked at her from the darkness, deep and dark and luscious like an eternal abyss of sorrowful red, as something reached out, and Sakura felt something move along her like a frighteningly cold shadow of longing – and then she woke up.

Sighing, Sakura squinched her eyes and rubbed them, sitting up. Her back popped uncomfortably. She had been separated from her group the night before. Outside in the wilderness, Sakura missed her team in the lonely cold of what seemed like an endless night, the storm raging around her icy, shivering body.

I shouldn't have fallen asleep out here, she thought irritably, picking up her pack and standing up from her spot inside a tree's gnarled roots. The rain was coming down too hard, though, and she couldn't believe she had fallen behind.

Again.

She shouldered her pack and stood up, the rain smelled so nice now that it was coming down less hard. And those were thougghts for another time.

What did plague her thoughts were those eyes she had seen in her dream.

Sasuke's?

She hadn't thought about Sasuke in a long, long time. He was fading, weaving in her memories and unthreading faster than she was ready. But in a way she was. Sakura was ready to let go. She was strong now. She put her chin up and started walking. She was strong now. To satisfy this thought, Sakura absently lift her foot and tapped it against the ground gently, smiling when the ground erupted into tumbling rocks, a mini-earthquake roaring beneath her.

Less than a mile away, sitting on a tree branch, Itachi Uchiha's eyes narrowed as he stilled completely, dead silent, waiting, hands tightening imperceptibly on the tree branch.

His scarlet orbs sought out any sort of disturbance, their blood red color swimming between the three pinprick commas that stood out in stark contrast. Coming up with nothing, he slowly let them fade to onyx black, sharp as coal and twice as cold. The pain that the Sharingan eyes brought eased slowly, but the blur tinging his vision blurry could not be eased.

"Itachi, are you ready?"

Kisame, from below, twitched his grip on his sword. He couldn't tell what the disturbance was, but he knew where it came from, and he wanted to find out.

Itachi's inaudible landing alerted Kisame and they set out. They were being paid to patrol the area, it was a very easy job. Akatsuki work was slow because they were building up their funds by taking many, many obs throughout the world, the highest paying ones they could find.

"What was that?" Kisame asked.

Itachi didn't know and could only shrug as they quietly raced towards the chakra signature they felt. When they saw who it was, Itachi's lip curled in distaste, he knew who this was. He remembered her – a good memory told him this was Haruno Sakura, friend to his brother, apprentice to the Godaime Hokage, walking quietly along with the evidence of a disturbance in the ground behind her.

She looked much like he remembered her. She had soft pink hair. It was held back from her face in her red Konoha headband, framing her heart-shaped face with glittering jade eyes and rosy cheeks and full glossy lips, skin softly pale in the glowing gray light from the crying overcast clouds. She was dressed in a tight-fit obsidian red shirt that despite being high-collared, accentuated her bust well, with her trademark white circle embroidered on her back with no sleeves and with short-shorts and a short skirt that promised easy movement but looked very good. She wore high heeled sandals that were fashionable like her teacher's, both shoes and skirt showing off her long legs. She was still petite, she couldn't be older than seventeen, but she held herself in a very dignified way, chin held up with her back straight, that made his opinion of her rise slightly.

"Haruno Sakura."

Sakura stiffened and spun around, hands inching towards her kunai. When she saw who it was her eyes widened and she took an involuntary step back. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki… A-class missing-nin, top of the bingo book criminals, Akatsuki members.

"What do you want?" she thundered, putting up a front that was a lot braver than she felt. She was actually scared and hated herself for it, but they were very strong missing-nin. She knew she couldn't take both of them, so she decided to try to be friendly. Maybe they would leave her alone if she convinced them she was passing through – which was exactly what she was doing.

"It's been a while," Itachi murmured, and the smoothness of his voice jolted something inside her and sent shivers up her back that she fought to still. He saw it anyway, however, judging by how his lip curled slightly.

"You," he said, "are in our territory." And with that she was suddenly pinned to a tree, his coal black eyes staring knives into hers.

"What are you doing here," he said, more of a commanding statement than a question. He was so close, she felt his breath like cool mint softly tickling her. Sakura tried not to look at his eyes but was captivated by the utter ice inside of them, freezing her from the inside out.

"I was walking," she said slowly and clearly, raising her chin defiantly. He pushed her harder into the tree and the bark dug into her back painfluly. This flared her temper, which had grown in legend as she grew older, the many missions she had taken over the years spreading news of the kind yet fiery medic-nin. "I have no intent to fight you, but if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you get!" She tried to punch him but he disappeared in a blur of motion, suddenly many yards away.

"So be it." He said, and suddenly she felt warning bells in her head and fear in her stomach. She couldn ot handle two missing-nin – two very dangerous A-class Akatsuki missing-nin, at that. But she had already initiated this and couldn't back down. She had pride and wasn't going to let it go just because she was afraid. She had worked hard for her self-confidence.

Sakura tried to punch Itachi but he dodged and kicked her feet out from under her, but instead of falling down Sakura flipped back and the fight was on. She fingered the scroll in her pocket after a while of fighting but didn't want to use it, not yet. It was a special gift from Tenten, a secret ace in the whole, a surprise she wasn't ready to waste yet.

Sakura didn't know if he would use his legendary Mangekyou sharingan, but instead of risking it, she kept her eyes schooled down, watching his feet and reading his movements. He was very strong physically, but his fighting type was naturally genjutsu – just as hers was. This would make things harder because the man was far more skilled than she is; deciding to keep it physical and to try not to goat Itachi into any chakra attacks, Sakura kept her own attacks strictly physical. The earth erupted beneath Itachi but he flickered out of her vision, and Sakura knew exactly where he was coming from. She punched the earth again, forcing him to exit his ground-jutsu.

Sakura grazed his face, leaving a tiny trail of blood, and this made her happy that she could hurt him – until suddenly she was pinned to the ground, having forgotten to move directly after. During the entire fight she had been very light on her feet because she was faster than he was, but he finally caught her. She was breathing hard, yet Itachi seemed much less taxed than she was as he held her wrists above her head with one hand, the other almost caressing her neck in what she imagined could be an imitation of a sweet gesture, tight and uncomfortable and ready to choke her. Her eyes flickered to his unwillingly, and Sakura's heart stopped because it was red – scarlet – scarlet orbs, just like—

Suddenly, his body almost crushed hers as Itachi flattened against her and then they were moving in a blur; there was a kunai perched deadly still where they had just been. Sakura couldn't help but gasp; Itachi jerked and let go of her, but Kisame took the lead and charged at an enemy ninja.

"Oh no, Iwa ninja – what are they doing so far in the Fire Country?" Sakura wondered, but Itachi shushed her and grabbed her wrist as he began to run.

"What are you doing?" Sakura screeched, but she found herself pinned uncomfortably to a tree again, her hands above her head and Itachi's leg stationed between her own, rubbing against her thighs uncomfortably – Itachi seemed to like doing that, apparently.

Not that she minded, a little voice in the back of her mind said mischeviously. He really was handsome and strong and smelled like… Sakura inhaled quietly so he wouldn't notice, he smelled like something very masculine, like Old Spice even though she knew it was ridiculous because ninjas never used distinctive scents, and Itachi Uchiha was no exception. It was too easy to be tracked, so all that ninjas ever smelled like was themselves, which never left a real trail unless you had a nin-dog. And what a nice smell this was. Then Sakura realized what she was thinking about and firmly drove it out of her mind – she hated him! His next words solidified that though and she knew that her two-second school girl attraction was well dead.

"Hush, woman." Itachi said in a smooth voice with narrowed eyes. "You are going to attract their attention, and that is the last thing we need. They are very strong, but Kisame can handle them. You were obviously walking around here for a reason – whatever it is, you are not going to leave with any information about the Akatsuki, so you are coming with me. I need to inform my leader that Iwa is meddling in our affairs."

He bent his head down besides hers, raven-black hair like night framing his face and tickling her cheeks; she could feel his cool spearmint breath, could feel the heat radiating off of his body as he whispered, "you are now my prisoner."

Sakura shivered and there was a tiny smirk on his face as he leaned away again. She was indignant over her new status, but he was stronger than her – if she tried to escape he would capture her, and she had a bad feeling she would get more than a bruised back from being pushed against a tree so many times.

"Follow along. If you try to escape, I will find you, and I will not allow you to move on your own," his smooth voice confirmed the thoughts in her head and Sakura mentally groaned. "We need to leave, now."

He jerked her up and they began moving again. Itachi was making sure Sakura stayed right beside him at all times, though she was slower than he liked.

"Faster," he intoned, and she gave him a rather angry glance, but did as he complied because she knew she didn't have any other choice. Still, it was better than being caught by those Iwa ninjas. At the speed they were going, Sakura was sure they would never catch them – and even though she had no idea what would be in store either way, the pink-haired young woman was sure that being caght by Iwa ninjas was just as bad, if not worse, than being caught by the Akatsuki.

"Where are we going" Sakura began to ask, but her reflexes forced her out of the way and just in time: the Iwa-nin had caught up to them!

"Oh no," Itachi muttered, and she saw him pull out his weapons, his face a mask of cold, unfeeling shinobi, like ice, like winter. He was so much like winter Sakura wondered if he had ever really noticed the changing seasons, but she remembered that the enemy shinobi were here and readied herself.

The ninja that went for her got a good kick in the face, but he rebounded and grazed both of her legs, an upwards slash decorating her gaudily as blood poured out of the large wound. Sakura staggered, but a flick of her wrist healed over most of it, and though her legs were sore, she went straight back to him and started throwing powerful punches.

Meanwhile, Itachi was holding his own against three ninja. He was doing well when Sakura rocketed into view, punting one of the enemy nin into a tree so quickly and surely it almost impressed him. She turned around, her beautiful jade eyes glittering in excitement and fire, and she shouted, "Itachi, I have an idea!"

He understood immediately what she was going to do and held his arm out straight outwards from his body as he performed a one-handed seal – Sakura raced towards him and kicked an evil ninja from behind Itachi as he shot a flaming fireball at another ninja in front of him. Sakura flipped back to use his arm as a sort of pole, giggling as he used wind power to propel her and she took down three ninja at the same time. We're a great team, she thought without thinking, until suddenly – her legs!

"Oh no, my legs!" Sakura moaned in pain and clutched her legs as she fell off of the tree branch she was perched on, writhing in pain as she rocketed towards the ground faster and faster. She couldn't move her legs! She was going to die! She screamed as she fell – there were too many things she wanted to do, too much life left in her, too many untaken opportunities and she couldn't move and she was going to die, she was going to die from falling off of a _stupid tree_ and she couldn't move her legs—

Itachi saw Sakura begin to fall and his heart stopped until it began pounding again – there was something wrong, she wasn't preparing to land. Part of his brain intoned that it wasn't his problem, but he could see her legs spazzing and she wasn't going to be able to land on her own. It wasn't his problem, but here glittering jade eyes flashed in his head and he saw her short pink hair whipping in the air from the force of gravity, her body falling too fast to be able to take the impact without aiming her legs down. He slit the ninja's neck in front of him and raced towards the falling kunoichi but not without being sliced across both arms as the ninja died and gurgled a laughter.

Ignoring it, Itachi ran, faster and faster, flitting across tree branches lower and lower until jumping himself, flattening his body in a perfect swan dive to get to her in time. He wrapped a throbbing arm around her waist as her legs flailed and kicked at him out of control, but he wrapped his own legs around them to still them and used his left arm as a springboard off of a passing, dark wooden branch to flip around and land.

As they did so, Itachi grunted as unfamilar pain shot across both of this arms and they landed in a tangled heap on the ground, both heaving and panting heavily.

"I thought—" Itachi didn't know how to finish that but didn't have to because no, his arms! They were throbbing and pounding and beating like fire was on them, _fire_. He moaned and almost keelled over, barely catching himself from crushing Sakura's body – why was it hurting?

"Itachi, are you okay?" she whispered, arms instinctively reaching up to push against his chest or try to hold him up. Sakura didn't know which, and she felt so strange… and her legs were hurting, so, so much. It had only been a simple slash, why was it pounding so?

Itachi moaned and all of his weight sagged on her hands. Thankfully, she was able to hold him up; Sakura Haruno wasn't called the strongest kunoichi in her village for nothing.

"My arms aren't working, he bit out, and Sakura gave him a helpless look. "My legs aren't working," she offered, not that it helped much. "I can check you out if we can get to a safe place. Their coming." She said. Itachi looked down at her and in his beautiful scarlet eyes, she could see that he had come to a decision.

"Sakura, wrap your arms around me," he told her, tone leaving no room for arguement, and for some reason, one she did not know why, Sakura did as he asked without hesitation, feeling his warm body almost envelope her own small one. It was a surprisingly safe feeling.

Sakura told herself she was dumb and narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't trust you, but we need to do something," said Sakura and he nodded, because he knew this as well. "That is my plan, I have no arms and you have no legs. Let us use each other to achieve our ends." It was a good plan, Sakura knew, so she used the arms around his neck to lift herself up and weakly wrap her legs around his waist and he stood up, arms struggling to move up to support her.

"I won't let you fall."

He started running and the words jolted something deep inside the girl Sakura hid in her heart as she tightened her hold around his neck and shoulders, head a foot above his to see what was happening behind. Her legs were hurting, but she kept her grip on Itachi's waste strong ; as he was keeping grip on her legs with his weak arms, she could do the same.

"I have an idea," said Sakura as she grabbed some of her kunai as the rock ninja raced after them; she had to be very accurate for this to work. She threw the kunai and pinned one man in the forehead, smirking as another kunai hit another right in the neck. "How many?" Itachi asked from below, Sakura patted his head as she grabbed some needles. "Two – now three," she said easily, hoisting herself a little to get better grip on Itachi, her body sliding up his awkwardly. They both try not to notice and he nods instead.

"Good," he murmurs as the last of the enemy ninja went down. I think we can—"

"Itachi!" Sakura screamed. She saw more stupid, idiotic ninjas coming, and she didn't think she could take them, not without her legs!

"Dammit!" Itachi cursed. He tried to speed up, but he was tiring out and his arms were throbbing terribly. Sakura began to slip but he hoisted her up; he wouldn't let her fall. Couldn't. It was such a strange, intrusive thought that Itachi ripped it from his mind and continued running, trying to push himself.

"They're catching up, I can't get all of them!" Sakura cried from above him; the enemy-nin were on the offensive and throwing knives at them. Itachi ran fastser and faster, willing his feet to keep moving, just keep moving – until the Iwa shinobi came at them from the front, causing Itachi to stop in his tracks.

"This'll teach you!" One yelled with a sneer. Neither Itachi or Sakura had any idea what was happening, but as soon as the enemy ninja yelled, suddenly the wind flared up around them, swirling faster and faster, almost throwing Itachi off of his balance – his eyes narrowed and he shot up, trying to get away, but the whirlwind sucked him in again, whipping around them faster and faster, until suddenly—

The only thing that even signified Itachi Uchiha or Sakura Haruno had ever stood on that space was the echo of the ringing scream that had ripped out of Sakura's mouth before they were sucked into the wind.

And even that disappeared into the sky, and neither ninja were there.

_**i** w **i **l l f o l l o w y **o**__ u_

"And so it beginsss," the quiet, deep male voice spoke; it slithered across the words like a snake.

"We succeeded but were unable to place a tracking device on them," another voice spoke; it was nervous, slightly higher, male and young and afraid. It could taste the fear, could smell it.

"Failure," the first voice spoke softly, almost gently despite it's utter lack of warmth, "isss not tolerated in my ssservice."

The young man, headband betraying the fact he was from Iwagakure, was dead before he hit the floor.

_**i** n t **o** t h **e** d **a** r k_

She groaned, feeling the weight of something heavy on top of her. Her eyes fluttered open, eyelashes catching stray bits of hair, and Sakura was drowsily surprised to find Itachi Uchiha sprawled across her, effectively pinning her to the cold, hard ground again. He was fast asleep – unconscious, knocked out? – but she murmured into his ear, his head leaning against her heart, and he began to stir.

He felt terrible.

"S… Sakura… what h—?"

The sharp intake of breath he heard from his female companion was all that warned him to the presence he felt behind; Itachi tried to flip around and reach for a kunai, but his body did not respond and he could only try to crane his neck around, head oddly placed on Sakura's chest, to find two blue, twinkling, but very confused eyes staring back at him.

_i w i l l f o l l o w y o u i n t o t h e d a r k_

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**Hi! Umm, umm, this is my first fanfiction, so please be easy on me, I am still learning the ways of , teehee. x3 And this is only the beginning, there is a lot more coming! x3 I've always loooooved HP/Naruto crossovers, and I wanted to make a more unique one. The only thing I ask is that you tell me your thoughts, I would love to haer what ppl think. And I might be enticed to update sooner if I get a few reviews, teehee, but I promise the next part will be up soon, see you then! x3**

**LalaLettie**

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	2. Chapter 2

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I Will Follow You Into the Dark  
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**II**

"…How… get here…"

"…the hell… wearing…"

"…matter, they aren't…"

the voices around Sakura drifted in and out of her ears, like floating consciousness on a field of blurry, unknown ethereal world – she didn't know what was happening or what they were saying but she felt a tap on her shoulder that brought her around and Itachi's face, swimming into her vision, made all drowsiness leave her.

"Wake up, kunoichi," he hissed. "We are surrounded." Sakura's eyes widened and their eyes met, coming to a mutual, spit-second understanding as their chakra fleshed out together, analyzing the room and then they scrambled – boom boom boom boom. In less than a few seconds, they had the room strategicaly and literally placed at kunai point; there were several people in a dark room Sakura saw were forzen in fear as she was stationed on a wall, feet planted firmly against the wallpaper, two of them placed at kunai-point. She saw Itachi in an amazing position; he had two people with kunai at their throats in one hand, his other holding senbon to a man, and a longer knife in his mouth pointed straight towards an old man, the only one neither had managed to get a hold of directly.

Silence rained for a moment. No one moved or spoke after the initial screams of the people they were holding.

"Why did you bring us here?" Sakura finally snarled, looking at the old man in particular. He had the air of a person in charge, and she was tired of games.

The man looked at her strangely, and slowly held up his hands – surrender? No, but he was smiling, and bekoning to her! What is this? Itachi was thinking of slitting the people's thraots but slowly let them go, and Sakura followed suit. The man with flaming red hair was breathing slightly heavily, and the woman with hair similar to the color of Sakura's massaged her throat; neither moved, watching Sakura warily.

"Who are you? Why are we here?" Itachi said quietly with deliberation, his scarlet eyes glittering in the candlelight with distrust and calculation. He held his kunai in his hands tightly and Sakura slowly slunk from the dark green wall like oozing slime, turning slightly so her back was close to Itachi's and she could watch the other people who eyed them warily.

None of them seemed to understand them. Sakura felt her hostility fade but kept her guard up, kunai clutched tightly in her pale hands, her jade eyes glittering with confusion and distrust, but still kindness that the people could understand. The old man who radiated some sort of power held his hands up slowly and beckoned them again. Sakura and Itachi together took a step towards him.

He slowly held up a stick of some sort and murmured some sort of garbled word. Something shot out of the stick and before either shinobi could move, draped over them like a curtain of golden light that warmed them. Sakura shrieked and stepped back but the man held his hand up again. "My dear children, can you understand me?"

"Of course," Sakura answered but it was not the words in her head and she shrieked again, covering her mouth. Itachi was surprised and experimentaly said, "Who are you and why are we here?"

"I would love to discuss this with you, but I would be delighted if you could let go of my friends first," the old man said pointedly, and Itachi didn't spare them a glance as he retracted his grip off of the people he had been holding at kunai point.

"Our apologies," Sakura said quietly, but she did not let go of her knives. Itachi's nostrils flared.

"Speak, ojii-san." Itachi said respectfully, but with no room for idleness.

The old man ushered them into a room and the people who had surrounded them followed, glaring at the ninja distrustfully. Sakura felt surrounded but knew with confidence the best escape route; Itachi seemed to agree because his fingers twitched surreptitiously.

"I would actually like to ask both of you the same question," he began congenially. "I have not a clue as to how you have gotten here, who you are, or why you speak a language I am not personally familiar with."

Sakura took the opportunity to look around the room. It was dingy and dark and too humid for her taste, all green everywhere as a dark forest that made her think of eyes watching your back. The chairs were old and black and wooden, creaking, made very intricately with carvings of snakes and things Sakura couldn't name. It was the same for the desk the man who introduced himself as Dumbledore sat at; the knobs of the desk were silver and intricately patterned with what looked like more snakes, twisted up and coiled around in a way that made her shudder. There was content littered about the desk, mostly stray papers that looked more curled and old and longer than usual papers. Oddly enough, Sakura didn't see a lamp, but rather a candle lighting the desk; no brushes or pens, but strange feather-like things… quills? She hadn't seen one ever used practically. The rest of the room was lit by dim candles in rusty silver holders decorated ornately with carved snakes that, nonetheless, gave her a clear view of the rest of the room. It was large, making her think of wealth gone wrong, and there were bookshelves of ominous looking titles everywhere in print Sakura was startled to realize she recognized. The carpet was barely discernable from the shadows of the people and the objects scattered about the room; in fact, it was black enough to convince Sakura she was standing on a dank portal of… nothing, maybe. It twisted her around and made her very uncomfortable, and that was the room itself. The people were a completely differnet matter.

"I'm afraid that I've never heard of a country called Fire," the old man's bespectacled eyes looked slightly worried. "Nor have I ever heard of shinobi, I'm afraid. In fact, I am beginning to believe that you may possibly have been transported here… from a completely different world."

At this Sakura snapped back to attention. Itachi's back was ramrod straight and Sakura felt her fingers tremble slightly, twitching in her lap before she stilled them. She had put her own knives away, feeling slightly sorry for the whole ordeal that had happened upon their arrival, but she spied Itachi's knuckles snow-white as they gripped the handles of his kunai so tightly she was afraid he would snap them.

"That still doesn't explain why we're even here," Sakura said desparately. This was just ridiculous! As if she didn't have enough to deal with, being stuck with an S-class criminal. At least these people didn't seem as if they were cannibals, she thought sourly.

Itachi's left ear twitched slightly as he heard a shuffle. The people around them were beginning to relax – fools, he sneered inwardly, but didn't bother opening his mouth or even looking as his Sharingan finally faded, making several people jump. There was a man with flamingly bright red hair peppered with small pieces of gray ringing a bald spot on his head, who was thin and slightly ragged looking; another man with shaggy black hair and dark eyes, who looked shockingly pale, stood close behind Dumbledore his eyes kept darting between him and Sakura distrustfully. And Itachi didn't blame them – but they were all fools, still. He noticed that all they had on them were sticks. Sticks. Perhaps, even if they were ninjutsu or genjutsu weilding sticks, there was absolutely no reason for them to be caught unawares without their normal weapons. It was ridicules. Another woman stood to the side of Sakura with hair very similar to hers, just as bright if not slightly more purple, her hair was spiked up and short, however. Another man to Itachi's left had gray hair and looked even more worn than the other two men put together. It was a very ragged looking group, he surmised, and his attention again focused on the old man whose presence seemed to demand some sort of respect in front of him.

"—and then we were here," Sakura finished, looking less of the respectable, battle-hardened ninja she had come off as earlier and more of a seventeen-year-old girl. Which was unacceptable; even though she was not his companion, he was more or less stuck with her, Itachi figured, and he did not keep company, what a distatseful word he thought, with weaklings.

"I see," Dumbledore-san spoke gravely, steppling his fingers. "That is most very interesting and disturbing. I do know of which world you speak of, though I have never heard of individual country's names, much less their ties. Your world keeps to itself whenever ours and yours cross." He seemed suddenly slightly amused, and then tired, his long, crooked nose that looked like it had been broken at least twice dipped and he seemed suddenly very, very old. It was slightly disconcerting until he looked up again and managed a grim smile.

"Well, I cannot say I know of any spells that will transport you back to your world, I will say that I believe we can find a solution. But these are difficult times here, I'm afraid."

"We will be willing to compensate you in any way possible," Sakura spoke quickly and Itachi almost felt the need to muffle her. That blasted girl, he thought, though he kept quiet. However much he would've liked to weigh his options, he grudgingly admitted to himself that that was realy their only option.

Dumbledore clapped his hands. "Well, that is our first step to settling this mix-up. I believe as it is now, though, it is very late, and you are both very young and I believe that we will all need our rest to face the day ahead of us. I believe there are several empty rooms upstiars at your disposal – Sirius?"

The man with shaggy hair, who was so pale Sakura was afraid she would be abel to see through him, nodded quickly and beckoned for them as the rest of the people filed out of the room, watching the two shinobi with nothing less than curiosity. The dark parlour greeted them and made Sakura unconsciously wrap her arms around her hands, rubbing slightly to breathe warmth into herself. It was much colder than she expected it to be – and this world, she reasoned to herself, night not be during the summer season at all.

"This way," the man named Sirius motioned and took the old, darkened wooden steps that made Itachi think of dilapidated houses – of dead houses, of dead people, of his old – no, he told himself sternly and banished the thoughts. The man Sirius took the steps by twos and the ninja followed to a door of old, gray oak that didn't look inviting or promsing.

"We only have one free room at the moment that won't bite you," he said with a small shrug and a quick grin, apologeticaly. "there isn't another one… we'll have you set up better by tomorrow. But there are a lot of people here right now, so I'm sorry. And…" he let them walk in and breathed in and out heavily. "don't leave. I don't know who you are, but stay here until morning at least. If you leave during the night, something bad mighjt happen – and not just to you. This place is protected. Remember that." Sirius said, and he walked away.

Sakura looked around in dismay at the room that Itachi was already quietly walking around, inspecting. It was filled with old, dusty and dilapidated furniture, with a musty gray rug placed over the creaking wooden floorboards. The curtains covering the window being pelted with rain were gray as the carpet, maybe darker and more foreboding looking, moth-eaten and heavy like velvet. The vanity covered with a fine layer of dust had a mirror Sakura could hardly see herself in, and the stool sitting with it she didn't dare sit on. She wheeled around fully to find, worst of all, only one bed, a large queen-sized thing that looked better taken care of than the rest of the room combined. She thanked the small things, but other than the bed, there was only a rotting wooden looking trunk sitting at the foot of it and an umconfortable leather chair in the room that she wasn't looking forward to anyone having to sleep on.

"Um…" Sakura said quietly. Itachi pinned her with his deadly gaze.

"I will take the chair," he said quietly.

"N-no, there's no need for that, Sakura said, uncomfortable. She didn't want him – even if he was her enemy, and nothing would change that, she assured herself – to have to sleep on such an uncomfortable looking thing. The floor was better, and she shuddered to think of having to bed on it. It was so musty and she was sure it was infested with something. What a terrible old house, she thought.

"It's a big bed," she said lamely. Itachi eyed her and she wasn't sure what he was thinking, but she sat down on the edge of it and removed her sandals and her gear. The shuffle of feet and the weight of the bed saggign beside her made her smile slightly, but she was also nervous. He wouldn't kill her in his sleep.

"I won't kill you in your sleep if you won't kill me in mine," she blurted out and felt her cheeks staining themselves red. Itachi didn't seem amused but nodded once, slipping under the heavy sheets and turning away from her. She missed the slight smirk at the corner of his lips and settled down herself, their backs less than an inch away from touching as they both drifted off to unfit, unpeaceful sleep.

( i ) w _i_ l l _f_ o **l l** o _w  
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"Kunoichi, wake up," was what Sakura heard first and she had a slight fit of déjà vu before she opened her eyesand found Itachi already up and watching her boredly.

"We need to sort some things out," he told her and she sat up, the blankets falling and pulling away any sleepiness she had. It seemed like summer, but it was colder than in konoha. She missed Konoha already.

"We're apparently stuck together, by whatever twist of fate," he told her as she laced her boots. "I believe it would be beneficial for us to stay together until we've reached our home world again." Sakura sighed at his words. Home world… this wasn't just some bad dream. Was it?

"Yes," Sakura agreed. Itachi cut her off. "But this does not mean that we are allies in any way. We are in a situation that calls for us to work together but once we are in our correct places, I am your enemy and you are mine. I believe you will have little trouble remembering that, yes?" he said dryly and Sakura could've clobbered him, but she simply nodded curtly.

"Of course, Uchiha-san," she said loftily, words laced with venomous hatred, dripping with malice, that only elicited a hardly amused snort from the young man with raven black hair that he deftly tied into a low ponytial. Sakura opened the door and quietly slipped down the stairs just as a plump, middle-aged woman began to ascend them. She looked up and seemed to be startled, but controlled herself almost impressively.

"Hello, miss," Sakura said in a friendly way, reaching the bottom of the stairs and bowing. "I'm sorry if we startled you—"

"Nonsense, dear, I was just about to knock on your door. Would you like some breakfast?" the woman had red hair, shockingly bright but a much more scarlet shade than the man from the previous night; she, like Sakura, seemed to have a way about her that seemed lik she could be very fiery but she smiled really nicely and Sakura decided to like her.

"That would be wonderful, Mrs…"

"Weasley."

The woman ushered them into the kitchen which was dark as the rest of the house, but filled with several people who stared openely at the strangers as Mrs. Weasley made them sit down.

"You both look thin – too thin, for children your age," she said in a no nonsense-voice, bustling around the kitchen, but Sakura felt her fingers twitch.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," she said deliberately, "but neither of us are children, please keep that in mind."

"She can't be older than me," one of the boys seated at the table muttered to another boy beside him.

"I am seventeen," Sakura addressed the boy directly. Mrs. Weasley, startled, apologized rather haltingly and placed a large plate of food before both Sakura and Itachi, of which both thanked her politely for.

"I'm seventeen, too," he said indignantly. "You ain't hardly an—"

"Excuse me," Itachi said boredly, "but I am afraid I am unaccostumed to your eating utensils." He handled the fork absently, looking at it curiously before experimentally copying another red-headed girl's movements. Sakura watched in fascination.

"You spear things?" She asked amusedly, then followed suit. The strangers to them watched them similar to watching a five-headed spider. "That's funny," she murmured. Itachi snorted and began to eat.

"But you both ain't much older than us. And Dumbledore's already talking about inducting you into the—"

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. She turned to the ninja apologetically. "I'm sorry. Everything will be explained in due time, please don't mind my rude son," she glared at him pointedly and he obediently went back to eating. When Mrs. Weasley bustled from the kitchen to attend to something else, he looked up again.

"Scuse me, but I'm Ron, this here's my sister Ginny, my friend Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter."

"It is very nice to meet you," Sakura said politely. "I am Haruno Sakura. This is Uchiha Itachi."

The young people sitting near them seemed slightly taken aback by the strange names but nodded, murmuring the same.

"I apologize for my friend's rudeness," the girl named Granger said. "but – well – you both look awfully young," she said lamely. Sakura blinked.

"I am seventeen. Uchiha-san is…"

"Twenty-two," said man supplemenetd.

"You look much older," Sakura murmured. "You don't get enough sleep, I think."

"The seasoned eyes of a medic," he said under his breath. "I am not your patient, woman."

"Just an observation, Uchiha-san." Sakura said, trying not to seethe.

"Well, you're hardly an adult," Ron muttered and Hermione hit him in the back of the head. Sakura felt slightly annoyed by the boy and her temper rose. She had worked hard to get past being questioned of her status.

"I am a fully-fledged shinobi, apprentice to the Godaime Hokage and second strongest kunoichi in my home village, let alone the entire Fire Country. I have been a fully-fledged adult since the age of twelve. I would appreciate if you did not qauestion my abilities," Sakura said, nostrils flared. Ron shrunk back, hands held up in surrender.

"Bloody hell, sorry," he said. "I just meant… well, here, seventeen is just adult-age."

"Our customs are very different than yours," Sakura said, nodding in acceptance of his apology.

"What I would like," she continued after a moment, "would be an explanation of what is going on at the moment. Dumbledore-ojii-san has not had a chance to tell us yet. If we can offer our services as shinobi, I am confident it would be repayal to find us a way back to Konoha."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged a glance, as Ginny watched. "Well," Harry said. "There's a lot going on…"

He began speaking in dark tones, his brooding voice winding around the room, his emerald eyes, sharp as pinpricks in the night, glittering angrily behind his glasses, his dark, messy hair framing them. The room slowly lit up from the few windows, promsing a gray, unhappy, overcast day of rain, throwing the room into relief that showed the crackling, dark fireplace, the dark chairs, the cold pantry, sink, cupboards, the stone floor. The words speaking of a madman like a snake registered some sort of irony in Itachi's head, one that Sakura seemed to understand in a perverse way.

"He's just… he is pure evil," Harry said angrily, fists clenched tightly, knuckles turning white.

"There is no evil." Itachi's voice spoke for the first time. Heads snapped towards him.

"There is no such thing as evil," he repeated. "There is no such thing as good. Only difference of opinion." He stood and removed his plate. Sakura followed, understanding the truth of his words.

"Then you're saying…" there was a clatter of a chair, legs screeching against stone floor, and an angry Harry Potter was standing as Hermione tried whispering hurriedly to him.

"Then you're saying he was right to do everything he did?" Harry's face was contorted in fury.

Itachi unhurriedly deposited his dishes in the sink, washing them quietly and setting them on the rack to dry.

"That there's nothing wrong with all of his deeds?!" Harry's hand shot into his pocket but before anything could happen, before he could even speak again, Harry was pinned to the floor under a very bored looking Itachi, as Ron and Hermione gasped.

"I," Itachi said delicately, "am only stating the fact. I am not saying that what your Voldemort has done is right, any less than what he has done is wrong. He believes it to be proper conduct. If you were he, you would believe that you are correct." He sat on Harry's back, holding a kunai to his neck. "I also suggest that you keep your weapons on you in places where it is not obvious you haven't yet accessed them. Something I noticed with your adults," Itachi sneered. "They didn't have their knives out. Only those sticks. They will do nothing to protect you if you are in war as you say. Ninja are constantly at war. There is no excuse. Learn." He stood fluidly, flipping his knife back into his pouch.

"Do not put words in my mouth." He inclined his head to Harry as the boy stood, livid. "I know a man very, very similar to your Voldemort. Your case is not a special one. And there will always be differing opinions. There is nothing you can do about that."

Itachi exhaled slowly. "Only fight for your own cause."

Sakura, though she did not trust Itachi and did not know Harry, put a hand on both of their shoulders, slowly calming them with chakra aura.

"Dumbledore just arrived, he would like to see you two," Mrs. Weasley hurried into the dank kitchen.

Itachi inclined his head and swept after her without a word. Sakura smiled apologetically at the young students.

"There are many differences between your world and ours. However, things are… not as black and white in our world as in yours, if that makes sense. Itachi Uchiha is… a very skilled shinobi, and one who has been through much in his life," Sakura found herself saying. And she knew it, too. She had been through the files and had her own suspicions about the man. Better left for another time to think of.

"I ask you not to judge him harshly. His view of the world is very different from many other people's." She bowed and smiled apologetically, turning to run after the man with raven hair.

_i w i l l f o l l o w y o u i n t o t h e d a r k_

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**Hi! This was a little later than I wanted it to be, but I promise i will update more regularly x3 thank you for all the reviews, they are very encouraging! Please keep telling me yoru thoughts i love reading them, it really makes me want to update faster, teehee! expect the next chapter within a day or so!  
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**LalaLettie**

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